Bengaluru-based banking infrastructure startup Spense has raised $2.8 million in a seed funding round led by Arkam Ventures. The round also saw participation from Razorpay Ventures, GrowthCap Ventures, Atrium Ventures, and angel investors including Kunal Shah.

Spense was co-founded in 2022 by Pawan Kumar and Srinivas Krishnamurthy. The startup is building technology that helps banks launch modern credit products, such as credit cards and credit lines, without replacing their existing core systems.

This is an important problem to solve. Banks want to offer faster, more flexible credit products, but their older technology systems often make new product launches slow and expensive. Spense is trying to sit between old banking infrastructure and new-age fintech needs.

What Spense does

Spense builds banking infrastructure for secured credit products. In simple words, it helps banks offer credit backed by customer assets.

For example, a bank may want to offer a credit line to a customer based on deposits or other eligible assets. Traditionally, building such a product can take a long time because the bank has to connect core banking systems, deposit systems, card management systems and customer service workflows.

Spense helps connect these systems in real time. This allows banks to launch new credit products faster without rebuilding their entire technology stack.

Why the funding matters

The $2.8 million seed round gives Spense capital to move faster in a market where banks and fintechs are looking for better credit infrastructure.

The company plans to use the funds to deepen banking partnerships, speed up product development, expand its engineering and go-to-market teams, and launch Credit Line on UPI, also called CLOU.

Credit Line on UPI is an important area in Indian fintech. It can allow approved users to access credit through UPI instead of depending only on cards or traditional loans. If banks adopt this widely, it could become a major shift in everyday digital credit.

The next leap for Spense

The next leap for Spense is to help banks move from slow, manual credit systems to faster and more automated credit infrastructure.

This does not mean replacing banks. It means helping banks modernise from within. Many banks already have customers, deposits and trust. What they need is sharper technology to launch credit products quickly and manage them efficiently.

Spense’s platform uses AI to automate workflows in areas such as onboarding, servicing, collections and customer support. These are usually labour-heavy parts of banking. If automation works well, banks can reduce operational load and serve customers faster.

A simple example is customer onboarding. Instead of multiple manual checks and back-and-forth processes, AI-supported workflows can help verify, route and process applications more smoothly.

Why banks need this kind of infrastructure

India’s digital payments ecosystem has grown quickly, but credit still has room to become more flexible. UPI made payments easy. Now banks and fintech companies are trying to make credit more accessible while keeping risk under control.

Secured credit can be useful because it is backed by assets. This may reduce risk for banks compared with completely unsecured lending.

For customers, it can mean easier access to credit products linked to their existing banking relationship. For banks, it can create a new way to serve customers without taking unnecessary risk.

Where Spense fits in the fintech market

Spense is not a consumer lending app. It is an infrastructure company. That means its customers are likely banks and financial institutions, not regular users directly.

This is an important difference. A consumer may never see the Spense name while using a credit product. But the technology behind that product may help the bank process, approve, service and manage it.

This kind of business can grow quietly but deeply. If banks trust the platform, it can become part of their credit operations.

Competitors and market context

Spense will compete in a serious fintech infrastructure market. Comparable players may include Setu, Decentro, M2P Fintech, Zeta, Niro, RazorpayX and other banking technology or embedded finance platforms.

The competition will depend on the exact product area. Some companies focus on APIs. Some focus on cards. Some focus on embedded finance. Some focus on lending infrastructure.

Spense’s specific focus on bank-native secured credit and Credit Line on UPI can help it create a clear position if it executes well.

Challenges ahead

1. The first challenge is bank partnerships. Banks move carefully because credit is a sensitive area. Spense will need to show reliability, security and compliance.
2. The second challenge is integration. Banking systems are complex. Connecting core banking, deposits and card systems in real time is not easy.
3. The third challenge is AI accuracy. Automation can save time, but banks will expect strong controls, audit trails and human oversight where needed.
4. The fourth challenge is scale. Once a product goes live with a bank, it may need to handle large transaction volumes and customer requests without failure.

Conclusion with key takeaways

Spense’s $2.8 million seed funding shows growing investor interest in fintech infrastructure that helps banks modernize credit products. The startup is solving a practical problem – how banks can launch credit cards and credit lines faster without replacing their existing systems.

Key takeaways

• Spense raised $2.8 million in seed funding.
• The round was led by Arkam Ventures.
• Razorpay Ventures, GrowthCap Ventures, Atrium Ventures and angel investors including Kunal Shah participated.
• Spense was co-founded in 2022 by Pawan Kumar and Srinivas Krishnamurthy.
• The startup helps banks launch credit cards and credit lines backed by customer assets.
• The funds will support banking partnerships, product development, team expansion and Credit Line on UPI

Facts Input- Entrackr

Sahamati has raised INR 50 crore, which is an account aggregator ecosystem. This is about India’s consent-based financial data infrastructure moving into its next phase. Unlike most venture-backed startup raises, Sahamati is a not-for-profit, industry alliance supporting the Account Aggregator (AA) ecosystem. That means the objective is not app growth alone. The focus is on ecosystem scale, standards, governance, interoperability, and responsible data-sharing adoption across banks, NBFCs, AMCs, brokers, and fintechs.

In simple terms, this funding is a signal that large financial institutions now see AA rails as a strategic layer for the future of lending, wealth, insurance, and customer-facing financial products in India.

What Happened in This Funding Round

Sahamati announced a INR 50 crore raise backed by a broad group of financial entities. Reports indicate participation from major banks, large financial institutions, and fintech players, with over two dozen participants involved.

Names widely cited include:

• State Bank of India
• ICICI Bank
• HDFC Bank
• Axis Bank
• Bajaj Finserv
• Aditya Birla Group entities
• Zerodha
• Dhan
• Angel One
• INDmoney
• and others

This is notable because it is a collective industry-backed funding event, not a concentrated one-investor bet.

Why This Raise Is Different From Typical Startup Funding

Most funding stories are about revenue acceleration and market capture. This one is different for three reasons.

1) It is ecosystem capital, not just company capital
Sahamati supports the broader AA network, not only one commercial product line.

2) It is governance-heavy by design
The AA model depends on trust, standards, and compliance. Funding in this case supports institutional and technical strengthening, not only top-line growth.

3) It indicates ecosystem maturity
When many competing institutions fund the same infrastructure layer, it usually means the market has moved from “pilot curiosity” to “strategic necessity.”

That shift is what makes this round important.

Quick Refresher: What Is the Account Aggregator Ecosystem?

The Account Aggregator framework enables consent-based financial data sharing between entities in a regulated way.

In simple user terms:

• You give permission for your financial data to be shared for a specific purpose.
• Data moves securely from where it sits (banks/financial institutions) to where it is needed (for example, a lender evaluating your loan application).
• You remain in control through consent architecture.

This model can reduce paperwork, speed decisions, and improve product relevance across financial services.

Conclusion

Sahamati’s INR 50 crore raise is a significant development because it reflects coordinated conviction across India’s financial sector. It is not just a funding milestone. It is a confidence signal for the next stage of the Account Aggregator ecosystem. For users, the long-term promise is smoother and more controlled digital finance journeys. For institutions, the opportunity is better underwriting, efficiency, and product design. For the market, it is a strong indicator that shared, consent-based data rails are moving from policy theory to practical scale. If execution stays disciplined, this can become one of the more meaningful infrastructure-led shifts in Indian finance over the next few years.

Facts Input- ET

On April 1, 2026, CredResolve raises Pre-Series A in a round led by Merak Ventures, with participation from existing investors Unleash VC (Unleash Capital Partners) and CDM Capital. The company said this round will help it expand from 10 states to 15 states, scale multilingual AI and voice capabilities, and launch a self-serve platform for lenders.

Collections is a core part of the credit system. If collections are slow, opaque, or inconsistent, the impact reaches banks, NBFCs, fintech lenders, and even end-borrowers. That is why this raise deserves attention.

What Exactly Happened?

Here are the key updates from the April 1 coverage:

• CredResolve closed a Pre-Series A round and Merak Ventures led the round
• Existing investors Unleash VC and CDM Capital also participated in this round of funding
• The startup plans expansion to 15 states from 10 states
• It said it currently manages over $6 billion in monthly assets and fresh funds will be used for AI and voice expansion plus a lender self-serve product

Even without a publicly disclosed round size, this is a meaningful milestone because it signals investor confidence in the company’s operating model.

Why Collections Infrastructure Matters More Than Most People Think

Collections is often seen as a “back-end” function. But it is actually central to financial stability.

When borrowers miss repayments, lenders need systems that are:

• Fast enough to recover dues efficiently
• Transparent enough to track performance in real time
• Compliant enough to avoid regulatory and reputation risks
• Fair enough to avoid harsh or inconsistent borrower experiences

Traditional collection systems in India are still fragmented in many places. Parts of the process remain manual, with disconnected agency workflows and limited data visibility. This creates delays, disputes, and uneven outcomes.

CredResolve is positioning itself as a technology layer for this problem as per the reports.

What CredResolve Is Building

Based on reported details, CredResolve offers a full-stack collections infrastructure that combines:

• AI voice automation
• Digital recovery channels
• Field operations support
• Workflow visibility for lenders

In simple words, it is trying to modernize collections from a patchwork process into a system with better tracking and consistency.

Its next phase focuses on multilingual capabilities. That matters in India because collections communication cannot be one-language-only. Better regional language support can improve borrower response rates and reduce friction.

The planned self-serve lender platform is another important step. If lenders can configure and monitor collections flows directly, they can move faster without depending on long integration cycles.

What This Means for India’s Fintech Ecosystem

This round also reflects a broader shift in Indian startup funding behavior.

Investors are increasingly backing:

• Core infrastructure startups
• B2B fintech enablers
• Companies solving high-friction, recurring workflow problems

That is a healthy sign. It means funding is not only flowing to front-end consumer apps but also to foundational systems that keep credit markets functioning. As digital lending expands, recovery infrastructure becomes even more important. If recovery rails are weak, credit growth becomes risky. If recovery rails improve, the whole system becomes more resilient.